Monday, 7 March 2011

Papa shirandula

Papa shirandula is a television serial that is aired on Citizen Television every Thursday. It is about papa whom to his wife is a company manager but we the audiences know better that he works as a day watchman. papa tries to keep this as his top secret to his wife Wilbroda.

The director of Papa Shirandula according to me interrogates lots of things in this programme. for example

Stereotypes,

papa is a Luhya and in sour society stereotypically Luhyas are known to be watchmen that is why the director used papa as a watchman to bring it out perfectly. It is also said that Luhyas have high sexual vitality that is why a luhya who lives away from his wife will always marry a second one and thta is why papa has three wives one in town and two in the village.

Mama Nyagothie is papas' landlady, as usual the society believes that the best custodians of money in Kenya are the Kikuyus. the director brought it out well.

Wilbroda is a luo, and as it is known Luos always want the best things in life.We the audience know Papa as a watcman who lives in debts and paid peanuts, but when you check out his house, it is furnished thanks to his Luo wife.Though she is illiterate, she tries speaking English words that are not even there just to bring out the Luo in her. Stereotypically, personally i think Wilbroda is still sticking around Papa because she believes he is a manager and has money.

Themes

The themes interrogated in this programme are those that its viewers can identify with. for example the theme of employer employee relationship, where Papa the watchman and Juma Andreson his boss are close in that Anderson confides in Papa. Another theme is poverty where Jalang'o and Otoyo do not have jobs, they live in the slum where their makeshift house burns down and they have nowhere to go to except to Papa Shirandulas' who is their brother in-law. Family issuesis another theme brought out here where Papa lies to his family that he is a company manager when he knows very well that he is a guard in a company, that is why they constantly fight because Papa is always broke. His wife believes he earns alot of money therefore she wants to live large. Amina the tea girl has family issues whereby her husband works in Dubai but does not support her that is why she is always complaining about her marriage. All themes interrogated in this programme are those that people can identify with and that is why this programme goes on air at 7:40 when eneryone is at home.

Costumes

The costumier of the programme tries to use costume to develop the storyin that each character is dressed to suit their character or to pass across message.

Papa Shirandula : In the morning papa goes to work dressed in a suit and not just a monkey suit but a real suit and a tie, this proves to his "dumb" wife that he is a manager, but sincerely speaking which manager in this country goes to work riding a bicycle? this proves to the audience that Wilbroda is really ignorant and "dumb" On his way to work, Papa changes from his suit to his guard uniform, this passes across a message that that is where he belongs in the society and not where his wife thinks. During family functions Papa dresses so expensively that at some point his village neighbours and friends propose to him to vie as a member of parliament, just because he dresses expensively. This tells us that our people in the grassroots vote for politicians not because of what they can do but because of who they are in the society-rich.

Wilbroda : According to me, she dresses so badly, but the costumier had reasons why they did so, to bring out her ignorance. According to her she has a manager for a husband but her dress code is pathetic. A managers' wife shops in malls and not such cheap clothes from gikomba.

Mama Nyaguthie : She is the landlady but her costume/clothes do not match her character, maybe the costumier wanted to bring out the fact that when someone lives in Kawangware you don’t look too expensive than the rest of the dwellers. another reason could be a stereotype that Kikuyus are kind of mean to themselves even when they have they do not want to use.

Juma Anderson : he is Papa's boss and the clothes we expect him to put on as the boss are exactly what he has, this is used to bring out his role as the manager.

Lighting

During production of the programme, lighting is used basically for illumination, and not to bring out meaning. They programe is basically shot using natural light because they are either in the house, in the office or outside. The director should think of shooting the programme at night, because we always watch "during the day" episodes, this will bring out the use of high key and low key lighting which will make them kind of creative and professional in their work.

Camera angles, movements and shots

The programme is basically story based and not technical because the camera movements used are the basic ones, pan and tilt. High and low angles are rarely used but point of view and eyelevel point of view. In the same programme, we rarely see the use of establishing shots, but the use of close ups, medium long shots and long shots are common.

Failures of Papa Shirandula

Lack of creativity in using camera angles and lighting to give meaning.

Use of certain characters who exaggerate their roles for example Jalang’o and Otoyo

Strengths

The programme interrogates issues happening in the society today.

It brings out the stereotypes experienced in our ethnic communities

It shows how people from different ethnic groups live together as brothers and how they help each other in times of need.